Paul McCartney’s Hofner bass guitar, which disappeared in 1961, will now have a global search team to find its whereabouts.
search has been launched for Paul McCartney’s first Hofner bass guitar. In the initial years of The Beatles’ popularity, Paul had bought his “favourite” Hofner electric bass guitar for a mere ã30 in Hamburg’s Steinway Musikhaus.
The German instrument manufacturer has now launched a search, named The Loss Bass Project, urging anyone to share information about the guitar’s whereabouts.
The bass guitar was last seen before the band broke up more than 50 years ago. According to CNN, the Hofner guitar featured in the early Beatles songs like Twist And Shout, Love Me Do and She Loves You.
The manufacturing company revealed, on the website, that the musical instrument was purchased by McCartney in 1961.
“This is the bass McCartney played in Hamburg in 1961, at the Cavern in Liverpool and on those first Abbey Road recordings – it powered Beatlemania and shaped the sound of the modern world,” the group said on its website.
In late January 1969, when The Beatles were recording their song Get Back/Let It Be in London, the 1961 Hofner 500/1 Violin Bass disappeared. It has not been seen since.
The Lost Bass project is a global search dedicated to tracing the bass and “solving the greatest mystery in the history of rock and roll.”
“Nobody has ever clearly established where the bass was stored… and nobody has come forward with an account of what happened to it,” the website further said.
The campaign has shared photographs of the original bass, information trailing the instrument from its purchase to its disappearance, and how to sift through rumours and fakes.
In 1963, John Lennon’s guitar, used to write I Want To Hold Your Hand, disappeared during the band’s Christmas show at Finsbury Park, as per the project. It later resurfaced 51 years later, selling for a colossal $2.4 million at auction.
According to the website, McCartney owns three other Hofners, but the original one is his favourite.
“I have had a Hofner ever since I started. I’ve got three models but the ancient one is still my favourite,” he had said in 1966.
